Whole issues of periodicals

ReM, no.257 (1963)

Nutida musik, x/5 (1966–7)

L’arc, no.51 (1972)

Nutida musik, xxviii/3 (1984–5)

MusikTexte, no.13 (1986)

Iannis Xenakis, Musik-Konzepte, nos.54–5 (1987)

Entretemps, no.6 (1988), esp. 57–143

Circuit, v/2 (1994)

Muzyka, no.3 (1998; forthcoming)

General studies

D. Charles: La pensée de Xenakis (Paris, 1970)

D. Halperin: L’oeuvre musicale de Iannis Xenakis (Jerusalem, 1975) [in Hebrew]

O. Revault d’Allonnes: Xenakis: Polytopes (Paris, 1975)

J. Ruohomki: Ylesiä pürteitä Iannis Xenakisen musiikillisesta ajattulesta metodeista ja teoksista (Helsinki, 1977)

M. Sato: Iannis Xenakis: sûgaku ni yori sakkyoku [Musical composition by mathematics] (MA diss., Tokyo U. of Fine Arts and Music, 1978)

H. Gerhards, ed.: Regards sur Iannis Xenakis (Paris, 1981) [incl. homages by M. Kundera, O. Messiaen and S. Ozawa]

N. Matossian: Iannis Xenakis (Paris, 1981; Eng. trans., 1984)

J. Vermeil: ‘Les demeures Xenakis’, Silences, no.1 (1985), 201–06

P.-A. Castanet: ‘L’organon, ou Les outils mathématiques de la création musicale’, Cahiers du CIREM, nos.1–2 (1986), 33–44

H. Lohner: ‘Xenakis and the UPIC’, Computer Music Journal, x/4 (1986), 42–7

P.-E. Gontcharov: Les percussions chez Xenakis (diss., U. of Paris IV-Sorbonne, 1988)

E. Restagno, ed.: Xenakis (Turin, 1988)

S.A. Joseph: The Stochastic Music of Iannis Xenakis: an Examination of his Theory and Practice (diss., New York U., n.d.)

A. Orcalli: Le hasard se calcule: una tesi di Iannis Xenakis (Padua, 1990)

F.-B. Mache: ‘De Nekuia à Dox Orkh, dix années de création’, Musica, Festival de Strasbourg (1991)

P. Oswalt: ‘Polytope von Iannis Xenakis’, Arch+, no.107 (1991), 50–54

A. Baltensperger: “‘Art” und “Science”’, NZM, Jg.153, no.5 (1992), 27–34

B. Gibson: Xenakis: organisation sonore, techniques d’écriture, orchestration (Paris, 1992)

N. Papoutsopoulos: ‘To Politopo ton Mykinon tou Ianni Xenaki’ [The Polytope de Mycènes by Xenakis], Sima [Athens], no.7 (1992), 46–7

G. Marino, M.-H. Serra and J.-M. Raczinski: ‘The UPIC System: Origins and Innovations’, PNM, xxxi/1 (1993), 258–69

M.-H. Serra: ‘Stochastic Composition and Stochastic Timbre: GENDY3 by Iannis Xenakis’, PNM, xxxi/1 (1993), 236–57

M. Solomos: A propos des premières oeuvres (1953–69) de I. Xenakis: pour une approche historique de l’émergence de phénomène du son (diss., U. of Paris IV, 1993)

S. di Biasi: Musica e matematica negli anni 50–60: Iannis Xenakis (Bologna, 1994)

R. Eichert: Iannis Xenakis und die mathematische Grundlagenforschung (Saarbrücken, 1994)

M.A. Harley: ‘Spatial Sound Movement in the Instrumental Music of Iannis Xenakis’, Interface: Journal of New Music Research, xxiii (1994), 291–314

P. Hoffmann: Amalgam aus Kunst und Wissenschaft: naturwissenschaftliches Denken im Werk von Iannis Xenakis (Frankfurt, 1994)

H. de la Motte-Haber: ‘Musikalische Architektur und architektonische Musik’, Neue Berlinische Musikzeitung, viii/1 (1994), suppl., 3–10

M. Solomos: ‘Les trois sonorités xenakiennes’, Circuits, v/2 (1994), 21–39

A. Di Scipio: ‘Da Concret PH a GENDY 301: modelli compositivi nella musica elettroacustica di Xenakis’, Sonus, xiv (1995), 61–92

C. Schmidt: Komposition und Spiel: zu Iannis Xenakis (Cologne, 1995)

A. Baltensperger: Iannis Xenakis und die Stochastische Musik: Komposition im Spannungsfeld von Architektur und Mathematik (Berne, 1996)

R. Frisius: ‘Xenakis und das Schlagzeug’, NZM, Jg.157, no.6 (1996), 14–18

M. Iliescu: Musical et extramusical: eléments de pensée spatiale dans l’oeuvre de Iannis Xenakis (diss., U. of Paris I, 1996)

M. Solomos: Iannis Xenakis (Mercuès, 1996)

B. Robindore: ‘Eskhaté Ereuna: Extending the Limits of Musical Thought’, Computer Music Journal, xx/4 (1996), 11–16

R.J. Squibbs: Analytical Approach to the Music of Iannis Xenakis: Issues in the Recent Music (Ann Arbor, 1996)

P. Hoffmann: ‘L’espace abstrait dans la musique de Iannis Xenakis’, L’espace: musique – philosophie: Paris 1997, 141–52

M. Iliescu: ‘Connotations socio-politiques de la conception massique de Xenakis’, L’espace: musique – philosophie: Paris 1997, 265–77

P. Hoffmann: Music out of Nothing? The Dynamic Stochastic Synthesis: a Rigorous Approach to Algorithmic Composition by Iannis Xenakis (diss., Technische U., Berlin, forthcoming)

M. Solomos: Du project bartókien au son: l’évolution du jeune Xenakis (forthcoming)

M. Solomos, ed.: Proceedings of the 1st International Xenakis Congress, Centre de Documentation de Musique Contemporaine, Paris, 1999 (forthcoming)

Particular works

N. Kay: ‘Xenakis’s “Pithoprakta”’, Tempo, no.80 (1967), 21–5

T. Souster: ‘Xenakis’ “Nuits”’, Tempo, no.85 (1968), 5–18

K. Stone: ‘Xenakis: “Metastaseis, Pithoprakta, Eonta”’, MQ, liv (1968), 387–95

F. Vandenbogaerde: ‘Analyse de “Nomos alpha”’, Mathématiques et sciences humaines, no.24 (1968), 35–50

D. Sevrette: Etude statistique sur ‘Herma’ de Xenakis (Paris, 1973)

T. DeLio: ‘I. Xenakis’ “Nomos Alpha”: the Dialectic of Structure and Materials’, JMT, xxiv (1980), 63–86; repr. in Contiguous Lines, ed. T. DeLio (Lanham, MD, 1985), 3–30

J. Vriend: ‘“Nomos alpha”: Analysis and Comments’, Interface: Journal of New Music Research, x (1981), 15–82

P. Gervasoni: ‘“Idmem-Pléïades”’, Diapason-Harmonie, no.384 (1983)

T. DeLio: Structure and Strategy: Iannis Xenakis’ ‘Linaia-Agon’ (Maryland, 1985)

J. Papadatos: Werkanalyse zu Iannis Xenakis’ ‘Jonchaies’ (Examensarbeit, Staatliche Hochschule für Musik, Düsseldorf, 1985)

D.W. Yoken: Iannis Xenakis’ ‘Psappha’: a Performance Analysis (San Diego, 1985)

P.-A. Castanet: ‘“Mists”, oeuvre pour piano de Iannis Xenakis: de l’écoute à l’analyse, les chemins convergents d’une rencontre’, Analyse musicale, no.5 (1986), 65–75

J.-R. Julien: ‘“Nuits” de Iannis Xenakis: éléments d’une analyse’, Education musicale, no.325 (1986), 5–9; no.326 (1986), 9–12

O. Revault d’Allonnes: ‘“Thalleïn” de Xenakis’, InHarmoniques, no.1 (1986), 189–95

T. DeLio: ‘Structure and Strategy: Iannis Xenakis’ “Linaia Agon”’ Interface: Journal of New Music Research, xvi (1987)

J. Williams: ‘Iannis Xenakis: “Persephassa” an Introduction’, Percussive Notes (1987), 9–13

E.R. Flint: An Investigation of Real Time as Evidenced by the Structural and Formal Multiplicities in Iannis Xenakis’ ‘Psappha’ (diss., U. of Maryland, College Park, 1989)

C. Prost: ‘Nuits: première transposition de la démarche de Iannis Xenakis du domaine instrumental au domaine vocal’, Analyse musicale, no.15 (1989), 64–70

M. Malt: Trois aspects de formalisation dans ‘Achorripsis’ de Iannis Xenakis (Paris, 1991)

F. Jodelet: ‘Psappha’, Percussions, no.20 (1992), 9–15

J.-M. Thil: ‘“A Hélène” de I. Xenakis’, Education musicale, no.391 (1992), 5–6

J.M. Cubillas Morales: Iannis Xenakis, ‘Nomos Alpha’: una aproximacion inicial hacia el analisis de un encuentro, en el siglo XX, entre la musica y la matematica (Teoria de Grupos) (Valparaiso, 1993)

B. Larkin: ‘Analyse pour jouer “Psappha”’, Percussions, no.29 (1993), 7–11

M. Solomos: ‘“Persephassa” durée, geste et rythme’, Percussions, no.33 (1994), 11–19

J.-M. Chouvel: ‘A propos de “L’île de Gorée” de Iannis Xenakis’, Terres des signes, no.1 (1995), 169–73

Xeres, Hurtado de.

See Hurtado de Xeres.

Xhosa music.

See South africa, §I, 1.

Xian Xinghai [Hsien Hsing-hai]

(b Macao, 13 June 1905; d Moscow, 30 Oct 1945). Chinese composer. Educated in music schools and conservatories in Canton (1918), Beijing (1926) and Shanghai (1928), he travelled to France in 1930 to study composition with d’Indy and Dukas and take violin lessons. After a period at the Paris Conservatoire he returned to Shanghai in 1935; he subsequently worked for the Pathé (Baidai) Record Company, headed the music section of the left-wing New China (Xinhua) Film Company, and composed many songs for use in anti-Japanese popular movements. With the outbreak of war with Japan in 1937, Xian moved to Wuhan then to the Communist headquarters at Yan'an, where he became head of music at Lu Xun College of the Arts (1938), composed several significant nationalistic compositions, such as the cantata Huanghe (1939), and encouraged the study of folk music so that it could be better adapted by reformist composers. In 1940 he moved to Moscow for further study, and remained in various parts of the Soviet Union and Mongolia until his death. As with his contemporary Nie Er, Xian’s image was held up after his death by the Communist Party as that of a model revolutionary musician: his present reputation in Chinese musical circles stems more from politically motivated discussions of his life and personality than from the impact of specific compositions.

While he attempted to craft artworks which he hoped would raise musical standards within China, Xian’s compositional style was essentially populist. His melodies commonly employ folk or folk-like material, and textures and structures, even in his larger-scale works, are typically simple and clearly articulated. His harmonic language reflects both the influence of his foreign studies and of his attempts to develop a style more closely according to Chinese thematic material.

WORKS

(selective list)

Inst: Sym. no.1 ‘Minzu jiefang’ [National Liberation], 1935, rev. 1941; Sym. no.2 ‘Shenshang zhi zhan’ [Holy War], 1943; 3 Kazakh Dances, pf (1943); 4 sym. suites, 2 orchd

Vocal: Feng [Wind], S, cl, pf, c1933; Huanghe [Yellow River] (cant., Guang Weiran), 1939, rev. 1941, arr. pf conc. 1969; 3 other choral works; 2 ops; c250 mainly film and mass songs and a few art songs surviving, incl. Dao diren houfang qu [Go to the Enemy’s Rear] (Zhao Qihai), 1938

BIBLIOGRAPHY

R.C. Kraus: Pianos and Politics in China: Middle-Class Ambitions and the Struggle over Western Music (New York, 1989), 40–69

Wang Yuhe: Zhongguo jin- xiandai yinyuejia pingzhuan [A critical biography of modern and contemporary Chinese music] (Beijing, 1992), 181–205

JONATHAN P.J. STOCK

Xiao.

Vertical notched flute of the Han Chinese. The name xiao (which was the ancient name for panpipe) is onomatopoeic. The notched flute, historically known by names such as di, guan and chiba, was not called xiao until about the 12th century. It is one of the most venerated of Chinese instruments, possessing a pure and ‘natural’ tone quality (associated with bamboo) and embodying important associations with the Confucian ethos and cosmology. As known by the name di, the instrument was likened to the Confucian concept of di, a different character meaning ‘to wash away evil from the mind’. A later variant known as chiba was twice the length of the ‘yellow bell’ pitch (huangzhong, the foundation pitch of the empire calculated on a tube of 0·9 feet), sounding a root pitch one octave lower and thus achieving correspondence with the universe.

The present-day xiao is constructed of bamboo, with an inward-sloping notch at the upper end (to assist tone production), five frontal finger-holes plus one dorsal thumb-hole, and two or more tassel holes near the lower end. External lengths vary by region, the crucial measurement being the location of the lower tassel holes (which define the vibrating length), for D flutes usually between about 50 and 52 cm below the blow-hole, depending upon internal diameter. Range is about two octaves commonly (d' – e''').

Several basic regional types are usually identified, all with variant constructions. Most common is the zizhu (‘purple bamboo’) xiao, characteristic of the Jiangnan area of central-eastern China. Longest of the regional variants (about 75 cm or more), this type is constructed from a species of bamboo with long, straight internodal sections, and it has a U-shaped notch carved through the uppermost node (which otherwise closes off most of the opening). Refined in tone and moderate in volume, this xiao is performed solo, in duet with qin or zheng zithers, or in small ensembles. The second major type is the dongxiao, employed in nanguan music of southern Fujian and Taiwan. Shorter than the Jiangnan xiao (about 57 cm), the dongxiao is constructed from ‘stone bamboo’ or other relatively thick species, and has a U- or V-shaped notch (the top node completely open), the lower end cut from the bamboo root. In theory, the instrument should have ten nodal outcroppings, though some variants have only nine. Other variants include the slender yuping xiao, and the yaxiao (‘refined’ xiao), a 1930s semi-chromatic eight-hole flute adapted for performance with the qin zither.

The history of the Chinese vertical notched flute is one of constantly changing terminology. Inscriptions on oracle bones from after the 14th century bce reveal the names of two flutes, yan and guan. The Zhouli (c3rd–2nd centuries bce) and other classic texts mention the names di (a name later applied to transverse flutes) and guan (‘pipe’, a name later applied to reed-pipes). Both had finger-holes and presumably notches as well. The Zhou dynasty di must have been a four-holed flute, because during the Han dynasty (206 bce–ce 220) the poem Changdi fu (‘Long di poem’) reports that a fifth hole had been added (a thumb-hole at the back). Other writings of this period speak of another vertical flute, the six-holed qiangdi, an instrument of the Qiang tribal people of western China. This instrument was quite long and slender and may have been related to the unnotched vertical flute of Western Asia (Ney). But the Chinese vertical flute (di) was already documented in late Zhou literature as a standard instrument employed in ritual ensembles.

Because of its ritual use, the root pitch of the di was usually the same as the ‘yellow bell’ pitch (which changed from one dynasty to another). However, its roughly equidistant finger-hole positions obviously did not coincide with the accepted orthodoxy of circle-of-fifths temperament, because numerous attempts were made to correct this discrepancy.

During the Tang dynasty (618–907), the most significant type of vertical flute became known as chiba guan, or simply chiba (literally, ‘1·8 (Chinese) feet’). Preserved at the Shōsōin treasury in Japan are eight chiba (pronounced Shakuhachi in Japanese) dating from this period. They are of bamboo, jade, stone and ivory, between 34 and 44 cm in length, with outward-cut notches and five finger-holes plus one thumb-hole. After the Tang, the name chiba was found less frequently in the literature (perhaps because of changes in measurement systems), and by the 11th and 12th centuries the name dongxiao became more common. Among local musicians of southern Fujian province, both names are used.

That long, thin vertical flutes, known as shudi (‘vertical’ di) or changdi (‘long’ di) were also in use during the Tang is attested by representations in cave art and citations in period literature. According to the scholar Zhu Xi (1130–1200), the long flute was called xiao by his time (the term di increasingly being used to identify transverse flutes). A very few notched flutes constructed of porcelain, jade and bamboo survive from the 16th or 17th centuries. A larger number of 19th-century xiao are preserved in museums throughout China, North America and Europe, including handsome red-lacquered flutes decorated with gilded dragon motifs, taken from various Confucian shrines.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A.C. Moule: ‘A List of the Musical and other Sound-Producing Instruments of the Chinese Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, North China Branch’, xxxix (1908), 1–160; repr. separately (Buren, 1989)

Hayashi K. and others: Shōsōin no gakki [Musical instruments in the Shōsōin] (Tokyo, 1967) [with Eng. summary]

Cheung Sai-bung: Zhongguo yinyue shilun shugao [Historical studies of Chinese music] (Hong Kong, 1974–5)

Tong Kin-woon: Shang Musical Instruments (diss., Wesleyan U., 1983); repr. in AsM, xv/1 (1983), 166–73

Lu Songling: ‘Chiba chutan’ [Preliminary study of the chiba], Quanzhou lishi wenhua zhongxin gongzuo tongxun, no.1 (1985), 9–18

Liu Dongsheng and others, ed.: Zhongguo yueqi tuzhi [Pictorial record of Chinese musical instruments] (Beijing, 1987)

Liu Dongsheng and Yuan Quanyou, eds.: Zhongguo yinyue shi tujian [Pictorial guide to the history of Chinese music] (Beijing, 1988)

Liu Dongsheng, ed.: Zhongguo yueqi tujian [Pictorial guide to Chinese musical instruments] (Ji'nan, 1992), 114–15, 119–21

Zheng Ruzhong: ‘Musical Instruments in the Wall Paintings of Dunhuang’, CHIME, no.7 (1993), 4–56

Zhongguo yueqi zhi, qiming juan (aerophone vol.) [forthcoming]

Zhongguo yinyue wenwu daxi [forthcoming]

ALAN R. THRASHER

Xiao, Shuxian [Hsiao, Shu-sien]

(b Tianjin, 9 April 1905; d Beijing, 26 Nov 1991). Chinese composer and educator. She was a prizewinning graduate of the Brussels Conservatoire Royale de Musique in 1932. From 1935 to 1954 she was married to the conductor Hermann Scherchen; the composer Tona Scherchen is their daughter. During the 1930s and 40s she spent 14 years in Switzerland, where she worked as a composer and was influential in promoting Chinese culture in Europe through her lectures and writings.

Her Chinese Children’s Suite and the orchestral suite Huainian Zuguo were among the first works by a Chinese composer to become known in the West. Her style combines Chinese folk materials with Western techniques, a concept later developed in her teaching of polyphony. In 1950, motivated by a desire to contribute to her country’s development, she returned to China with her three children. From that time until her death she taught composition at the Central Conservatory in Beijing, where she was regarded as inspirational to generations of Chinese composers. In addition to teaching, composing and writing, Xiao’s lifelong involvement with polyphony included translations into Chinese of Lendvai’s book on Bartók’s form and harmony (Beijing, 1979) and Koechlin’s Précis des règles du contrepoint (Beijing, 1986).

WORKS

(selective list)

unless otherwise stated, all appear in following 2 collections and are undated

Collected Compositions (Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing, 1992) [A]

Collected Polyphonic Works (Beijing, 1992) [B]

Orch: Huainian Zuguo [A Commemoration of my Homeland], sym. suite, 1941 [A]

Chbr: Fuge [Fugue], str trio [B]; Xintian You, str qt, trad. [B]; Huainian [Commemoration], pic, eng hn, cl, bn [B]

Pf: Shan Ge [Mountain Song], Jiangxi trad. [A]; Xu Qu [Prelude], Yunnan trad. [A, B]; Cai Cha Wu [Tea Picking Dance], Yunnan trad. [A]; Kanong Xiao Qu [Little Canon], Hebei trad. [A]; Guang Deng [Walking among the Lanterns], Shandong trad. [A, B]; Gangqin Xiaozoumingqu [Sonatina] [A]; Xu Qu [A, B]; Shan Ge [B]; Song Lang [Seeing off a Sweetheart] [B]; Xiao Chuang Yi Qu [Little Invention] [B]; Er sheng bu Fuge [2-Part Fugue] [B]

Songs (1v, pf): Chinese Children’s Suite, 1938 (Zürich, 1946); Yu Ye [Rainy Night] [A]; Manjiang Hong [All Red the River], trad., I, II [A]; Huaijiu [Remembering Old Times] [A]; Zizhu Diao [Purple Bamboo Melody] [A]; Yu bu Sa Hua Hua bu Hong [If the Rain doesn’t Fall, the Flowers won’t Bloom], Yunnan trad. [A]; Fengyang Huagu [Fengyang Flower Drum Dance], Anhui trad. [A]

Choral: Qingzhu Jinxing Qu [Celebration March], 1v, SATB, pf [A]; Gong Nong Bing Gechang Qiyi [Workers’, Peasants’ and Soldiers’ Song], vv, pf [A]; Liubing [Skating], children's vv [B]

BIBLIOGRAPHY

GroveW(J. Lindorff) [incl. further bibliography]

S. Xiao: ‘La chanson populaire chinoise’, Sinologica: Zeitschrift für Chinesische Kultur und Wissenschaft, i/1 (1947), 65–86

Duan Pingtai: ‘ Qi Xiao Shuxian xian sheng’ [Introducing Professor Xiao], Journal of the Central Conservatory of Music, xi/2 (1983), 51–3

Liu Fushu: ‘Dao nian Xiao Shuxian dai jie’ [In memory of Xiao], Art of Music, no.49 (1992), 64–6

JOYCE LINDORFF

Xiao Erhua [Hsiao Erh-Hua]

(b mainland China, 1906; d 1985). Chinese composer and teacher resident in Taiwan. In the late 1930s he studied music and theory in Japan; after working as a music teacher in Guangxi and Fujian, he moved to Taiwan in 1946. There he helped to establish the music department at Taiwan Normal University, devoting his attentions more to musicology and teaching than to composition. In a period when concert performances were rare and only included music by foreign composers, Xiao introduced his students to the works of mainland Chinese composers such as Huang Zi, Chen Tianhe, Liu Xue'an, Lin Shengshi and Zhao Yuanren. This exposure encouraged his students, including such important Taiwanese composers as Hsu Tsang-houei and Ma Shuilong, to compose in the new Chinese art music style. Xiao himself wrote mainly vocal music in the prevailing ‘pentatonic Romantic’ style, combining Western tonal harmony with Chinese pentatonic melodies. Some of his songs, such as his famous Fangong fuguo ge, carry political messages concerned with resisting communism and retrieving the motherland.

C.C. Liu Collection, Institute of Chinese Studies, University of Heidelberg.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Qiao Pei: Zhongguo xiandai yinyuejia [Contemporary Chinese musicians] (Taipei, 1976), 120–22

Hsu Tsang-houei: ‘Zhongguo xin yinyue shi: Taiwan bian 1945–85’ [History of new music in China: Taiwan], Zhongguo xin yinyue shi lunji, ed. Liu Jingzhi (Hong Kong, 1990), 211–32, esp. 230

You Sufeng: Taiwan jin sanshi nian ‘xiandai yinyue’ fazhan zhi tansuo 1945–1975 [Enquiries into the development of ‘modern music’ in Taiwan] (thesis, National Taiwan Normal U., 1990), esp. 1–29

Hsu Tsang-houei: ‘The Republic of China’, New Music in the Orient, ed. H. Ryker (Buren, 1991), 217–24, esp. 217

BARBARA MITTLER

Ximénez [Jiménez], José

(b Zaragoza, bap. 25 Dec 1601; d Zaragoza, 9 Aug 1672). Spanish composer and organist. He was probably a pupil of Aguilera de Heredia before becoming his assistant organist at the cathedral of La Seo in Zaragoza in 1620. In 1627 or 1628 he succeeded him as organist. In 1654 Ximénez was offered the position of organist at the royal chapel in Madrid but he declined and remained at La Seo until his retirement in January 1672.

Ximénez’s works, which are of moderate quality, include eight tientos, two batallas, one folia setting, one gaytilla and 11 sets of hymn and psalm versos, all for organ. Selections are published in F. Pedrell: Antología de organistas clásicos españoles, i (Barcelona, 1908) and in H. Anglés: Antología de organistas españoles del siglo XVII, i–ii (Barcelona, 1965–6).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ApelG

W. Apel: ‘Spanish Organ Music of the Early 17th Century’, JAMS, xv (1962), 174–81

W. Apel: ‘Die spanische Orgelmusik vor Cabanilles’, AnM, xvii (1962), 15–29

L. Siemens Hernández: ‘La Seo de Zaragoza, destacada escuela de órgano en el siglo XVII, I’, AnM, xxi (1966), 147-67

M.E. Sutton: A Study of the Seventeenth-Century Iberian Organ Batalla: Historical Development, Musical Characteristics and Performance Considerations (diss., U. of Kansas, 1975), 43–52

BARTON HUDSON

Ximeno, Fabián Pérez

(b Mexico City, c1595; d Mexico City, 17 April 1654). Mexican composer and organist. From 1621 he held the position of second organist at Mexico City Cathedral, becoming first organist by November 1642. After the death of Luis Coronado, he was appointed maestro de capilla on 31 March 1648, and took as his assistant the nephew of his predecessor, Juan Coronado. He held this position, along with that of organist, until his death. During this period he trained his nephew, Francisco Vidales, who later became organist at Puebla Cathedral and a composer. Ximeno's successor was Francisco López Capillas. Influenced by Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla, Ximeno developed an interest in polychoral works. His numerous compositions include several masses, three Magnificat settings, two Lenten motets, a Dixit Dominus, two psalms for the Office of the Dead and a 5-part Christmas carol in the Galician dialect: Ay, ay, galeguiños ay que lo veyo.

MARK BRILL

Xinda [Xindas, Xinta], Spyridon.

See Xyndas, Spyridon.

Xirimía [chirimía]

(Sp.).

See Shawm.

Xuares [Juárez], Alonso

(b Cuenca, c1639; d Cuenca, 26 June 1696). Spanish composer. He was maestro de capilla at Cuenca Cathedral from 3 September 1664 until 1675. Because of his excellent reputation he was offered the same post at Seville Cathedral, and served there from 29 April 1675 until 1 May 1684, when a kidney complaint caused his resignation. Returning to Cuenca, he was awarded various honours, including a benefice and a half-prebend, by the Bishop Alonso Antonio de San Martín. Xuares was renowned for his knowledge of scripture and classical learning; he carried on a weekly correspondence with Juan de Loaysa, librarian of the Biblioteca Colombina in Seville. His numerous extant compositions are notable for their liberal use of accidentals, rhythmic interest and contrasting textures.

WORKS

6 masses, 8vv, insts; 5 Mag, 8–11vv, insts; 55 motets; psalms; 4 lamentations; other works; E-CU

Missa sobre ‘Sancte Ferdinandae Rex’, 13vv; 17 motets, 7–8vv, bc; Sc

Vulnerasti cor meum, 8vv, bc; Dum sacrum pignus, T, 4/4vv, bc; ed. in Lira sacro-hispana, 1st ser., Siglo XVII, i (Madrid, 1869) [no source indicated]

Villancicos: En glorias de María, 4vv, D-Mbs; Venid venid zagales, 5vv, bc, ed. in Stevenson

BIBLIOGRAPHY

T. Muñoz y Soliva: Noticias de todos los Ilmos: Señores Obispos que han regido la diócesis de Cuenca (Cuenca, 1860), 319, 502

S. de la Rosa y López: Los seises de la Catedral de Sevilla (Seville, 1904), 154ff, 327

H. Anglès: ‘La música conservada en la Biblioteca Colombina y en la Catedral de Sevilla’, AnM, ii (1947), 3–39, esp. 37–8

R. Navarro Gonzalo and J. López Cobos: Catálogo musical del archivo de la Santa Iglesia Catedral Basilica de Cuenca (Cuenca, 1965, rev. 2/1973 by M. Angulo), 9

J. López-Calo: ‘Corresponsales de Miguel de Irízar’, AnM, xx (1965), 209–33

R.M. Stevenson: Christmas Music from Baroque Mexico (Berkeley, 1974), 41, 44, 75–6, 188–94

M. Martínez Millán: Historia musical de la catedral de Cuenca (Cuenca, 1988), 140–47, 196

ROBERT STEVENSON

Xu Boyun [Hsu Po-Yun]

(b Tokyo, 12 June 1944). Taiwanese composer. Self-taught apart from a few private composition lessons with Hsu Tsang-houei, he was instrumental in the promotion of contemporary music in Taiwan the 1960s. A founding member of the Asian Composers’ League, he staged a number of important Taiwanese avant-garde music festivals, such as New Environment for Asian Music in 1977, in cooperation with the composer Li Taixiang and the choreographer Lin Huaimin. In 1980 he founded New Aspect, the first weekly arts magazine in Taiwan, and initiated the first International Arts Festival. Out of these activities grew the New Aspect Arts Centre and Gallery (1983) and the New Aspect Cultural and Educational Foundation (1990), institutions responsible for much of the cultural activity of Taibei and Taiwan.

While Xu’s compositions are indebted to China’s traditional heritage, and especially that of Chinese opera, for instance in Zhongguo xiqu de yanxiang (1973) and the multimedia piece Sheng/Si (1974), they also bear testimony to his interest in the avant garde. He was one of the first Chinese composers to use synthetic sounds and the techniques of musique concrète in his compositions, notably in Dai Mian (1983) and Sheng/Si, and to apply avant-garde techniques to Chinese instruments, as in Pipa suibi (1975).

WORKS

(selective list)

Stage: Guafu the Sun Chaser (ballet, Lin Huaimin), 1975; Mengtu [Dreamscape] (ballet, Lin Huaimin), 1985; Hui [Meeting], conceptual art, 1986; Loulan nü [Medea] (incid music), 1993

Orch: Pipa Conc, pipa, chbr orch, 1988; Tianyuan [Origin], trad. Chin. inst ens, 1988

Chbr and solo inst: Yun [Pregnant], pic, fl, cl, vn, va, vc, pf, perc, 1969; Wuren, Wudi [5 Men and 5 Flutes], 5 fl, 1973; Zhongguo xiqu de yanxiang [Meditation on Chinese Theatre], str qnt, 1973; Pipa suibi [Pipa Jottings], pipa, 1975; Si xiang [4 Dimensions], fl, huqin, perc, 1976; Yun [Even], perc ens, 1976; You yuan, jing meng [Wandering in the Garden, Waking from a Dream], fl, vn, va, vc, huqin, guzheng, xun, perc, 1982; Dai Mian [Mask], synth, perc, sheng, guzheng, xun, 1983; Qian [Submersion], str qnt, 1996

Vocal: Yuange xing [Resentment] (Li Bai), S, pf, 1962; Han Shi [Cold Food] (Luo Yan), 1v, (pf, wind insts, perc)/pf, 1974; Sheng/Si [Life and Death] (Luo Yan), chorus, huqin, guzheng, xun, cl, ob, bn, str trio, db, perc, tape, 3 echo machines, 1974; Jing [Moon Field], vv, perc, 1977

MSS in C.C. Liu Collection, Institute of Chinese Studies, U. of Heidelberg

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cheng Pao-chuan: ‘Hsu Po-Yun, the ROC’s Impresario of the Arts’, Free China Review (1985), no.4, pp.56–61

B. Mittler: ‘Mirrors and Double Mirrors: The Politics of Identity in New Music from Hong Kong and Taiwan’, CHIME, no.9 (1996), 4–44, esp. 28–9

B. Mittler: Dangerous Tunes: the Politics of Chinese Music in Hong Kong, Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China since 1949 (Wiesbaden, 1997), 206–7, 336–7

BARBARA MITTLER

Xu Changhui.

See Hsu Tsang-houei.

Xu Lixian

(b Suzhou, Jiangsu province, 2 June 1928; d 6 March 1984). Chinese Suzhou tanci ballad singer. Xu Lixian became a professional musician at 11, performing first with the foster couple to whom her impoverished natural parents had sold her. Her repertory at this time included folksongs, various excerpts from tanci and local opera, and contemporary popular songs.

In 1953 Xu Lixian joined the Shanghai People’s Pingtan Troupe (Shanghai Shi Renmin Pingtan Gonguzuotuan), encountering there many of the principal singers of the time. Her vocal style at this time combined the melodic character of Jiang Yuequan with the variation techniques of Xu Yunzhi. Xu Lixian was active both in the development of new repertory, such as a chronicle of the female revolutionary hero in The New Ballad of Mulan (Xin Mulan ci) (1959), and in the maintenance of the old. Among her innovations was the use of duet passages (tanci had formerly relied on solo singing, sometimes shared between two singers) in the ballad After the Bumper Harvest (Fengshou zhi hou) (1963).

During the Cultural Revolution (1966–76) Xu, like other Suzhou tanci musicians, was unable to perform. Resuming performance in 1978, her style after this enforced break was more experimental, setting aside traditional melodic and modal patterns in favour of a more individualistic compositional style. Over her whole career, Xu composed more than 6o large-scale ballads as well as many shorter works.

See also China, §IV, 1(ii).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Shanghai pingtan tuan, ed.: Xu Lixian changqiang xuan [Selected songs of Xu Lixian] (Shanghai, 1979)

Pan Huizhu: Innovation within Tradition: the Tanci (Chinese Suzhou Narrative Music) Style of Xu Lixian (MA thesis, U. of Maryland, Baltimore, 1988)

Zhongguo yinyue cidian, xubian [Dictionary of Chinese music, supplementary vol.], YYS pubn (Beijing, 1992), 211

PENG BENLE

Xun.

Globular Flute employed in Han Chinese Confucian rituals. The xun (pronounced ‘hsün’) is an egg-shaped flute of baked clay, with a blow-hole at its apex and usually between three and eight finger-holes distributed in various patterns. Sizes vary between about 8 and 13 cm in height. Because of its globular wind chamber, the xun has a range of only about one octave, without usable overtones.

The ancient legacy of this ritual instrument in China is equalled only by the qing stone chime. Numerous small clay flutes, irregularly ball-shaped, egg-shaped and fish-shaped, have been found in Neolithic sites in and around Shanxi province, dating to c4000 bce and later. These ancient proto-xun flutes are between about 5 and 8 cm in height, each with one or two finger-holes. Instruments now identified as xun, found in late Shang sites (c1200 bce) of Henan province, are roughly the same size, though in shape of a large egg (standard thereafter), and generally with five finger-holes (three at the front, two at the rear). One important decorative characteristic found on some Shang instruments is the taotie design (face of a mythical animal, see illustration) on the outer surface.

The xun is mentioned frequently in Zhou literature. A note in the Erya (c3rd century bce) states that ‘a large xun is like a goose egg, with a flattened bottom and six holes; a small one is like a chicken egg’. The reference to ‘six holes’ almost certainly means five finger-holes (standard in archaeological finds) plus one blow-hole. The Han dynasty text Fengsu Tongyi (c175 ce) and other sources give specific measurements for the flutes of this period. Later sources, such as Yueshu (c1100), suggest that by the 12th century there were several varieties of xun, most slightly larger, with between six and eight finger-holes (for these and more recent developments, see Chuang, 1972).

The role of xun within the ritual ensemble of the imperial court is preserved today in the Confucian ritual in Taipei. Its significance within Confucian ideology is noted in the Shijing (‘Classic of Poetry’, c7th century bce): ‘the elder brother plays xun, the younger brother plays chi [transverse flute]’, with an explanation in the commentary that ‘our minds, as brothers, must be in harmony’, a metaphoric reminder of the need for social accordance within the family. Apart from its use in Confucian ritual, the xun has enjoyed a minor renaissance in China since the 1980s within the context of flute recitals.

Related historically is the chi (see China, §III; Di) and, outside China, the Korean hun, the Vietnamese huân and the Japanese tsuchibue.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Chuang Pen-li: ‘A Historical and Comparative Study of Hsün, the Chinese Ocarina’, Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, xxxiii (1972), 177–253 [with Eng. summary]

Cao Zheng: ‘Xun he xunde zhizuo gongyi’ [The xun and the art of its manufacture], Yueqi, (1982), no.4, pp.5–7; no.5, pp.4–6

Tong Kin-woon: Shang Musical Instruments (diss., Wesleyan U., 1983); repr. in AsM, xv/1 (1983), 152–66

Liu Dongsheng and others, eds.: Zhongguo yueqi tuzhi [Pictorial record of Chinese musical instruments] (Beijing, 1987), 25–34

Liu Dongsheng and Yuan Quanyou, eds.: Zhongguo yinyue shi tujian [Pictorial guide to the history of Chinese music] (Beijing, 1988), 10–12

Liu Dongsheng, ed.: Zhongguo yueqi tujian [Pictorial guide to Chinese instruments] (Ji’nan, 1992), 112–13

Li Chunyi: Zhongguo shanggu chutu yueqi zonglun [Survey of ancient excavated musical instruments from China] (Beijing, 1996), 386–407

ALAN R. THRASHER

Xu Shuya

(b Changchun, Jilin, 12 May 1961). Chinese composer. He studied composition with Ding Shande and Zhu Jian'er and took cello lessons at the Shanghai Conservatory (1979–83). After continuing there as a lecturer, he moved to Paris in 1988, where he studied at the Conservatoire with Malec, Jolas, Grisey and Bancquart; he remained in Paris to work as an independent composer. Many of his works have featured in festivals across Europe and have been awarded international prizes; his music is performed widely in Asia and Europe by symphony orchestras and contemporary music ensembles.

Xu’s early works such as the exquisite Waiting for Autumn (1986) and his ambitious Symphony no.1 (1986) betray influences ranging from Debussy to Takemitsu, but once in Paris, he began to count Malec, Höller and Parmegiani among his major sources of inspiration. He has frequently drawn ideas from Chinese Daoism, but for many years these were translated predominantly in terms of Western musical technique. Works like Choc (1989), Chute en automne (1991) and the brilliant, prize-winning Cristal au soleil couchant (1992) display a remarkable complexity, and his in-depth explorations into electronic music are unusual for almost any Chinese composer of his generation. By contrast, his works from the mid-1990s are increasingly based on materials taken from Chinese opera and folk music, and are often less dense in structure. In Vacuité/Consistance (1996) and Dawn on Steppe (1997) he recaptures the spirit of Chinese and Mongolian folk music, while retaining his superb command of modern instrumentation and counterpoint.

WORKS

(selective list)

Orch: Vn Conc., 1982; Vc Conc. ‘Suo’ [Search], vc, 4 perc, pf, str, 1984–6; Fantasy in Autumn, vc, vib, cel, str, 1985; Waiting for Autumn, 4 pic, 2 perc, 2 hp, str, 1986; Sym. no.1 ‘Curves’, 1986; Cristal au soleil couchant, 1992; Dense/Clairsemé, b fl, orch, 1994–5

Chbr: Song of the Miao, str qt, 1982; Choc, 4 vc, 1989; Dongba, 10 insts, 1990; Chute en automne, ens, 1991; Echos du vieux champ, ens, 1992–3; Dongba II, 2 fl, str qt, perc, 1994; Changement/Constance, cl, eng hn, vn, vc, 2 synth, perc, 1994; San, ens, 1995; Vacuité/Consistance, pipa, zheng, ens, 1996

Vocal: Récit sur la vieille route, S, cptr, tape, 1996; Dawn on Steppe, male v, pipa, zheng, ens, 1997; Traces of Songs and Drums, 2 S, orch, 1997

Elec: Taiya, tape, 1990; Taiya II, fl, tape, 1991

Principal publisher: Gérard Billaudot

FRANK KOUWENHOVEN

Xylo-marimba.

See Xylorimba.

Xylophone

(from Gk. xylon: ‘wood’; Fr. xylophone, claquebois; Ger. Xylophon, Holzharmonika; It. silofono).

Percussion instrument consisting of two or more bars of graduated length.

1. Distribution and classification.

2. Europe.

3. Africa.

4. South-east Asia and the Pacific.

5. Latin America.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

LOIS ANN ANDERSON/R (1, 3–4), JAMES BLADES/JAMES HOLLAND (2), GEORGE LIST, LINDA L. O’BRIEN-ROTHE (5)

Xylophone

⇐ Предыдущая123456Следующая ⇒

Поделиться: